Mao and the Christmas Tree: The President’s Yuletide Jeer

It isn’t often that matters of art enter the political news cycle. The Obama administration is determined to change that. Over the holiday week, Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government drew its readers’ attention to the ornamentation on the White House Christmas tree–in particular, an ornament featuring a picture of the Chinese dictator Mao Zedong.

This season’s Christmas decorations, recycled and reappropriated by “community groups” with ornaments from previous White House installations, were the brainchild of Simon Doonan, the Pop Art gadabout tapped by the White House for the occasion. Doonan is most well known for his controversial window displays at the Barneys New York department store, which have included dioramas of Margaret Thatcher in dominatrix wear and Dan Quayle as a ventriloquist’s dummy.

The news of the White House’s holiday hijink reached around the globe. The most interesting commentary came out of the smackdown between the art critic for the Los Angeles Times Christopher Knight and Breitbart. I have had my run-ins with Knight myself. On this occasion, Knight thought he outdid the right-wing commentators by making a distinction between any old portrait of Mao and “Andy Warhol’s ‘Mao ‘”—from which the White House ball derived.

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Tags: Andy Warhol, art critic, Barack Obama, Barneys New York, Chairman Mao
Posted Dec 29th 2009 at 5:47 am in Culture, Featured Story, Media Criticism | 53130129 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jpanero/2009/12/29/mao-and-the-christmas-tree-the-presidents-yuletide-jeer/Mao+and+the+Christmas+Tree%3A+The+President%27s+Yuletide+Jeer2009-12-29+13%3A47%3A17James+Panero

Tuesday Open Thread

Happy Birthday to Margaret Thatcher!

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Tags: Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher
Posted Oct 13th 2009 at 4:30 am in Culture | 1577048 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/10/13/tuesday-open-thread/Tuesday+Open+Thread2009-10-13+11%3A30%3A21Publius

Reagan Was Noble, But Obama Got the Prize

In an age where style trumps substance in so many ways, few can be surprised that a fledging President would receive a Nobel Peace Prize.  It bears repeating that Obama was President for just a matter of days before the nomination process was closed.  Nevertheless, and without any substantive accomplishment, Obama was awarded the Prize – unanimously – apparently for things to come.  No wonder 58% of Americans believe that politics was behind the choice.

By contrast, consider the accomplishment of Ronald Reagan who, last I checked, did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  According to Margaret Thatcher, Reagan won the Cold War “without firing a shot.”   In the words of Henry Kissinger, it was “the most stunning diplomatic feat of the modern era.”  In the wake of that victory, millions upon millions of people were set free – and, as history has shown, a free people are far more likely to be a peaceful people.

So why didn’t Reagan get the Prize?  The answer is simple, the political Left, including the Nobel committee, didn’t like the way Reagan went about setting people free.   Reagan, we well remember, installed missiles in Europe.  He did so because he believed what Thomas Jefferson told us long ago:  “Whatever enables us to go to war, secures our peace.”  Reagan, in time, would modernize Jefferson’s wisdom by advocating “peace through strength.”

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Tags: Barack Obama, Berlin Wall, Cold War, Eastern Europeans, Europe
Posted Oct 11th 2009 at 11:00 am in Culture, History, Politics | 15406113 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/tdelbeccaro/2009/10/11/reagan-was-noble-but-obama-got-the-prize/Reagan+Was+Noble%2C+But+Obama+Got+the+Prize2009-10-11+18%3A00%3A28Thomas+Del+Beccaro

Palin the Libertarian?

From New York Times today:

Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first speech overseas, spoke on Wednesday to Asian bankers, investors and fund managers.

A number of people who heard the speech in a packed hotel ballroom, which was closed to the media, said Mrs. Palin spoke from notes for 90 minutes and that she was articulate, well-prepared and even compelling.

“The speech was wide-ranging, very balanced, and she beat all expectations,” said Doug A. Coulter, head of private equity in the Asia-Pacific region for LGT Capital Partners.

“She didn’t sound at all like a far-right-wing conservative. She seemed to be positioning herself as a libertarian or a small-c conservative,” he said, adding that she mentioned both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. “She brought up both those names.”

Read the whole thing here.

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Tags: bailouts, Margaret Thatcher, President Obama, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 at 6:40 am in News, Obama, Politics | 6954120 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/23/palin-the-libertarian/Palin+the+Libertarian%3F2009-09-23+13%3A40%3A03Publius